It was just another day until Vicki Henderson of rural Gallatin discovered a calf trapped in an old 20-foot deep containment pit as she was running her nightly check of the cattle in the back pasture. The waste containment pit hadn’t been used in several years and had panels all around it.
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Vicki quickly rode back to the shed to get help from her two sons, Chris and Jeremy, who were visiting with a friend. Jeremy was the only one to respond, as they all thought she said the calf was caught in the fence, rather than in the pit.
Well it turned out to be a bit more serious. Here is her story, as she posted on Facebook on July 14:
“Our new to do list contains ‘Demolish old hog waste containment pit.’
“We had a 300-pound calf swimming for his life in it this evening. Apparently calves were running and hit the panels around the pit. How those panels became loose and a calf jumped two feet off the ground to get in it remains one of the weird things that happen around here.
“I rode the 4-wheeler as fast as I could to get help. I yelled at the boys [her sons Chris and Jeremy] for help, and they thought I had a cow in the “fence.” I rode back and nearly crashed in a ditch. Good thing I’ve ridden that way for years!
“Jeremy brought a rope and the wire cutters (he heard fence, not pit). Of course, who would believe a calf in a 20-foot-deep pit surrounded by cattle panels and filled with water?
“By then I had the winch cable out on the wheeler and the panel taken down. I had #226 by the ears once but he panicked and swam away. I was about to put a cattle panel in for him to get his feet on when Jeremy jumped in. Thank God the calf didn’t drown him.
“Jeremy pushed, swam, and herded the calf to me at the side. I wrapped the winch cable around his neck and the rescue proceeded with me pulling, and Jeremy trying to alternately push and lift the calf — while swimming in a 20-foot-deep pit of diluted hog waste and water.
“We finally got the struggling calf out and he took off like a shot! With the winch cable still around his neck! He hit the end of the cable at about the same time the cable swept my feet out from under me. I landed flat on my back in a mix of pit water, fresh cow crap, and mud. At least it was softer than the cement floor I fell on a couple of weeks ago.
“As the winch and hook zinged past my head, I heard Jeremy yell ‘Don’t get hurt!’ We were way past that at this point, but we will both just be sore tomorrow. I sent Jeremy home with antibiotics for him, gave #226 a couple of shots and hope tomorrow is a better day.
“I really could not make all this up if I tried! Oh, and our day started with an early phone call from the neighbor saying our show heifers were a half mile away and headed down the road. Cattle!”
Vicki and Jeremy are bruised and sore, as she predicted. They are shown in front of the containment pit where they executed the rescue, just thankful that they were able to rescue the calf without mishap.